I think they really scuppered themselves by having immortal characters and then setting it exclusively in the modern day.
Now we can't have complex stI think they really scuppered themselves by having immortal characters and then setting it exclusively in the modern day.
Now we can't have complex stories spanning hundreds of years because Nile is only 27 and they don't have the balls to write 50, 100 years in the future.
So instead, we have a pretty small-scope tale about what if the x-men only had a healing factor. . It just feels like such a crying shame.
Also DO NOT buy that the guard make subtle changes which butterfly into large good acts. And this makes them heroes because someone almost unrelated to them did something good many years later? In 10 issues they have not saved a SINGLE person even incidentally, and they have killed dozens and dozens of henchmen. Pull the other one...more
The unnamed main character gradually shifts from a pathetic lump with major self worth issues into what she thinks might be confidence but is actuallyThe unnamed main character gradually shifts from a pathetic lump with major self worth issues into what she thinks might be confidence but is actually self-centred petty-tyrant behaviour, going from obsessing over how perfect her lovers are to deliberately ignoring the boundaries of her partners, putting them in serious physical danger, and sexually assaulting one of them. She never sees another person as a human being with their own struggles and history -- not her boss, her friends, her lovers, her family, her fellow artists, nor beggars on the street -- they are totally unimportant to her, apart from when she can see reflections of herself in them, and only then.
Occasionally, the book had a good moment but was largely not memorable. The world outside the character's bubble is hazy and poorly defined. Nobody has much of a life outside of her. Even her own personality is shallow and contradictory (and not in a deliberate move by the author). To top it off, there were a couple of borderline transphobic remarks that were very infrequent but pretty annoying.
Yet another vapid novel about an aimless young woman who spends too much of someone else's money and ruminates incessantly on how hard it is to be an aimless young woman spending someone else's money. OK, girlfriend, have fun with that....more
Dnf: 60% "Being vulgar is fine, but oh please just don't be boring.” — Diana VreelandDnf: 60% "Being vulgar is fine, but oh please just don't be boring.” — Diana Vreeland...more
Like everyone says, this book is wildly confusing. If it had been 350 pages or even 400 pages, I think I could have manageSorryyy for the low rating.
Like everyone says, this book is wildly confusing. If it had been 350 pages or even 400 pages, I think I could have managed it. But I just had sooo little interest by the time they were revealing stuff.
Even tho (some events) happened in this book I don't feel like the story progressed the overall plot as much as a 500 page book should. It still doesn't end with a clear goal for the next book, or clear answers beyond some which don't really matter anymore....more
Gotta be one of the messiest polyam relationships I've ever read. Great gothic bisexual vampires. Would be 5⭐ but it can be pretty predictableGotta be one of the messiest polyam relationships I've ever read. Great gothic bisexual vampires. Would be 5⭐ but it can be pretty predictable...more
"If your dear heart is wounded, my wild heart bleeds with yours. In the rapture of my enormous humiliation I live in your warm life, and you shall die"If your dear heart is wounded, my wild heart bleeds with yours. In the rapture of my enormous humiliation I live in your warm life, and you shall die—die, sweetly die—into mine."
Surprisingly earnest. Short, gothic, dramatic and classic....more
This is an interesting book, and worth a read. It's rare for me to enjoy the second half of a book more than the first (usually, because I give up on This is an interesting book, and worth a read. It's rare for me to enjoy the second half of a book more than the first (usually, because I give up on the first half of a book if I don't like it) but this book's first half was filled with intriguing (if, somewhat convoluted) gender politics ideas and the second half felt more like a personal drama and an actual novel. Also, this review will have spoilers, so be warned.
The characters are unique, sympathetic, but not particularly admirable. Reese is clearly the author's favourite, an acerbic and damaged trans woman, and Ames, a nice but somewhat manipulative guy who de-transitioned. And who's Katrina, the cis woman?
Katrina is the biggest problem with this novel, because "Katrina" is not really her own character, first she's an obstacle, then a prop, then a plot device. Katrina is a stand-in for the entirety of cisgender womanhood. That's why one moment she's overwhelmingly transphobic about finding out about Ames' previous history as "Amy", so distressed that she gets drunk while pregnant and maliciously outing him at a work event -- but then two pages afterwards placidly accepts to co-parent with a complete stranger (Reese) to please her boyfriend. Katrina is perfectly accepting of Reese and Reese's esoteric friends, but then she's performative about queerness, but then she's homophobic about HIV and cuts Reese off out of nowhere, and then she likes Reese again even though Reese hasn't apologized for writing an abusive email to Katrina and invites Reese to come with her to the abortion appointment (WTF??).
This inconsistency is not impossible to reconcile, but Katrina gets no POV chapters or scenes. She disappears from the narrative for chapters at a time while we get to hear Ames and Reese's entire background. Who is Katrina? How does she feel about her pregnancy? What really happened between her and her husband, and how is Ames a more viable husband material (I mean, really?).
Katrina is biracial asian while the other two characters are white, and it's so aggravating whenever she tries to raise any point about race that the other two immediately start internally rolling their eyes. Reese and Ames don't want to hear that they might be racially insensitive, to them being transgender isn't just the foremost axes of oppression, they have a tendency to act like its the *only* form of oppression out there, and will only cede to racial awareness ahead of time to avoid criticism. To them, Katrina is a "white" cishet lady with no real problems, and any attempt by her to point out that she doesn't fit in that box is met with derision. There's no reason this book had to tackle race in this way, I would have much preferred it if Torrey Peters had simply made Katrina white rather than having her bring up race exclusively so it can be dismissed (as "playing oppression olympics" by Reese, in a charming little aside).
Finally, although it's in the title, not a lot of real estate is actually given to the mindset of de-transitioning. Reese sees Ames as a woman still (and still calls him Amy) and Katrina never really sees Ames as anything but a man. Ames himself has some pages discussing his thoughts and his experience seeing a de-transitioned man when he was younger, but the vast, vast majority of this book is about trans femme childhoods and adulthoods with a little flavour of motherhood. This is interesting to read, but de-transitioning is such an incredibly rare story to hear, so I would've enjoyed a bit more of a spotlight on it.
All in all though, I think this book breaks new ground about trans topics and it's written with a knowledgeable, sardonic style which allows topics to be flipped over and examined back to front. As a literary novel, it's a great exploration of one of the least discussed groups. ...more
Loading...
